Votto scratched from Triple-A start amid another ankle setback

TORONTO -- Joey Votto was scratched from his scheduled debut with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons on Friday after tweaking his right ankle in pregame activities.

Votto will be evaluated Saturday, the Blue Jays announced, to determine next steps.

This is the same right ankle that Votto rolled on a bat in the dugout in Clearwater, Fla. this Spring Training, all the way back on March 17. On the first pitch Votto saw in a Blue Jays uniform, he went deep off the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler, but stepped on the bat on his way back into the dugout. At the time, Votto said it “hurt like the dickens,” but that he’d be back out there in a couple of days.

That was over four months ago, during which time Votto slowly built up at the Blue Jays’ player development complex and eased in with 13 games in Single-A, where he hit .211 with a .716 OPS. It’s been a long wait for the Blue Jays and fans of the Canadian baseball legend to see Votto in Buffalo, on the doorstep of the big leagues, but that wait continues for at least another day.

As long as this is a short-term issue, though, the baseball side of Votto’s progression seems to be where he and the Blue Jays want it.

“Knowing him and how he wanted to feel physically before getting there, it’s good that he’s there,” manager John Schneider said prior to Votto being removed from the Buffalo lineup. “It’s one step closer to a guy who’s a borderline Hall of Famer helping us out.”

From the beginning of this journey back to the big leagues since signing a Minor League deal with the Blue Jays in March, he’s taken the “Minor League” part very literally. He’s wanted to try out, essentially, and the first part of that equation was getting to the right place physically, even if that’s taken far longer than anyone planned.

“His whole thing was that he wasn’t going to do this unless he felt like he could really contribute at this level,” Schneider said.

Whether Votto gets back to the big leagues with the team he grew up watching could depend on how the coming weeks go for the Blue Jays, the Trade Deadline included.

If the Blue Jays were to trade Justin Turner, for example, that could open up some at-bats for Votto down the stretch, but this is also an organization that is trying to pivot towards 2025. If those at-bats could go to younger players who the Blue Jays see as part of their future, it’s a balance they’ll need to strike, but having the 40-year-old Votto take the field at Rogers Centre in a Blue Jays uniform has to be an attractive idea for this organization, particularly in a season that’s been awfully thin on feel-good stories.

It’s still how Votto envisions this, clearly, after going through this long rehab. His excitement in those early days at Spring Training with the Blue Jays was so palpable.

“I feel like a boy. I feel like a kid,” Votto said in March. “I’m just excited to take this challenge on. I think this goes back to the 15-year-old version of me who just wanted to make it, who fell in love with the sport and with competition, with being my best self. All of the achievements along the way are nice, but this is still the core of me.”